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Title: On the Side of the Angels
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Table: 1drabble
Prompt: 17, Dirty
Author's Note: Sequel to "The Last Scar."
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Hannibal Lecter or Will Graham, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Just thinking about the last few weeks made Will feel dirty.

He hated the fact that he'd had to pretend to be like Hannibal, that he'd had to act as though he was a carbon copy of a conscienceless killer.

Thinking of some of the things that he'd done and said -- none of which he had meant, none of which were true -- made him feel sick. And what good had it done in the end, anyway? Hannibal had killed Abigail, killed Bloom, and left him and Jack for dead.

Only they hadn't died, Will told himself firmly, lifting his chin in a defiant gesture. They weren't going to die. They had survived, and they would live to fight another day.

Hannibal hadn't won. Not this time.

He might have gotten away, but it was only a matter of time before they would track him down and bring him to hell like the creature he was.

Hannibal was a monster, a cold-blooded killer. His crimes had gone unpunished for so long, but now it was time for him to pay for all the horrible things he had done. Will was determined that he and Jack would stop him, and prevent any further bloodbaths.

It wouldn't be easy, he knew. And it might still take some time. But at least they knew who they were after now. They were no longer stumbling around in the dark.

They knew exactly what Hannibal was, and what he had done. There was no room for doubt any longer. He would be caught, and punished.

If only they hadn't let him slip through their fingers the first time! But Will's plan, as good as it was, had still been flawed. Hannibal had fallen for his act, but there had still been that loophole that had allowed him to go free -- and to kill again in the process.

The thought that his flawed plan might have led to the deaths of two people he'd known and cared for would always make him feel guilty.

And the fact that he'd had to pretend to be like Hannibal would always make him feel dirty.

He hated knowing that he'd had to abase himself so horribly, that he'd had to pretend to actually like killing. That feeling of being coated in dirt would never go away.

He was nothing like Hannibal, Will told himself firmly. In spite of all that he'd had to say and do to make that monster believe that he was succumbing to the siren song of evil, he would never be anything even resembling the shambling horror that was Hannibal Lecter unmasked.

He wasn't evil. He wasn't on the side of darkness. He was on the side of the angels, even if he wasn't one himself. He always would be.

And maybe, one day he would stop feeling that Hannibal's filth had rubbed off on him.

***